Joey Votto is not your average baseball player. Granted, that may be obvious from the numbers he’s put up for the last two years playing for the Cincinnati Reds, but I don’t mean that.

Whenever I read an interview with him, I come away marveling at the amount of thought Votto seems to put into his answers. Sports athletes are rarely known for their intellect because that’s not what they’re paid for. For brains, you watch Jeopardy! But the sports arena is for feats of athletic prowess.

Still, Votto displays his thoughtfulness whenever he appears in the media more so than your average player.

For example, yesterday Cincinnati Enquirer Reds beat reporter John Fay talked to Votto, and Votto first talked about how he didn’t think pitchers pitched around him.

Votto doesn’t expect a change this year: “I don’t imagine it. I’ll assume guys will go after me, and I’m going to be ready for it. The ultimate guy that got pitched around was Barry Bonds. He said he assumed every pitch was going to be a strike, every pitch was going to be coming after him. That’s the approach you have to take. That’s probably the most difficult thing about our job. From Day 1 to hopefully the last out of the World Series, you have to be ready.”

That sounds like an excellent approach. One pitch at a time, and never expect them to give you anything. With Votto’s intensity, I’d love to see him be able to show just what he learned from last year’s postseason appearance.

Votto expects to improve this year, which is kind of a scary proposition.

“I’d like to be more efficient. I’d still like to be a better teammate. I’d like to be a better defensive player. As far as a hitter, I’d like to be more efficient. I feel like I wasted a lot of at-bats last year.”

He got on base 42% of the time, and he felt he wasted “a lot” of at-bats. Just let that sink in for a minute.

Since having such an excellent 2010 season, getting voted onto the All Star team (Vote Votto!), and winning the National League Most Valuable Player award, Votto’s prestige has grown. He’s on the national radar now. Given his issues following his father’s death, there’s understandable concern about how he might handle that pressure. Votto mentioned how he felt about that attention.

“It’s paced itself really well. It’s not like it was dumped on me. A guy like Aroldis Chapman or Jay Bruce or even Homer Bailey at the beginning, it’s dumped on them. I’ve earned it. It’s taken it’s time. I’ll adjust to it fine. I don’t see a huge leap. Halfway through the season, people were chanting MVP. That’s a huge compliment. I feel like I had enough time to de-sensitize myself to that.”

That actually assuages some of my concerns. Votto’s a big, strong baseball player. And I think he might just be big enough and strong enough to handle all the additional pressure that winning and succeeding brings. And doggone it, people like him.

Today at the Cincinnati Reds spring training facility in Goodyear, Arizona, it was all about Aroldis Chapman.

First, John Fay interviewed pitching coach Bryan Price about things Chapman needs to work on and his future role.

“First and foremost, especially with young guys, it’s going to be about command and commanding the count. Where he would be vulnerable is if he sets a precedent of being behind in the count and guys are comfortable enough to lay off some pitches. You don’t want to get to two strikes with this guys, he has a lot of ways to put you away.”

“He has to continue to work on the slider and make it a higher-percentage strike pitch as well as finish pitch.”

Price again reiterated the Reds position that Chapman’s eventual roster spot will be as a starter, but that it’s best to introduce him to the majors via lower pressure relief situations. I like how the Reds have been handling Chapman. Letting someone break into the big leagues in a relief role allows the club to better control the pressure and the number of innings, not to mention it allows the pitcher to focus on perfecting a couple pitches instead of the arsenal a starter needs. I do look forward to seeing what Chapman can do as a starter in another year or two, though.

Dusty Baker also spoke about Chapman and his role with the Reds this year.

“One thing I want squash right now is closer-situation controversy. I know everyone want’s to be in a hurry to rush him in there. But we’ve got to get him acclimated to what he’s doing first. (Francisco) Cordero, even though it’s been exciting at times, he’s still second at least our leagues in saves the last two years. That’s something that most people overlook.”

Are there lots of people clamoring for that? I know Cordero was frustrating as hell last year, and it was nice to have Chapman available to bail him out on occasion, but I don’t think it would be wise to throw Chapman into the pressure-cooker of the 9th inning.

Lastly, John Fay interviewed Chapman via interpreter. He’s happy in his relief role and has a lot of desire to improve. Given his flashes of success last year, I’d like to see him improve, too.

Chapman also talked about the intense expectations that he feels from the crowd whenever he takes the mound.

“I really feel good when I see those things the fans want me to do,” he said. “But, really, the truth is that particular moment I don’t think about those things. I just do what I have to do. I think about my job. . . At that moment, I just want to pitch.”

That’s probably wise. Otherwise, those 105 mile-per-hour fastballs might be flying over the fences, or leaving mighty painful bruises.

Ken Griffey Jr has always been my favorite baseball player, and I found how his career ended in 2010 to be quite sad. But today’s news about his old club hiring him strikes me as good news.

Ken Griffey Jr. is returning to the Seattle Mariners as a special consultant less than a year after abruptly retiring from baseball.

Good. Griffey was always good for the game, and I’d hate for him to no longer be associated with it. Hopefully, he can stay awake for this job, though.

I saw this article linked to by Cincinnati.com today about Aaron Harang and his attempts to resurrect his career with the San Diego Padres.

Harang signed a one-year, $4 million deal this off-season to pitch in the spacious PetCo Park and hope to return to his awesome, winning ways of 2006 and 2007. He’s only 32 years old, so there’s likely some talent left in his tank. What better place than where he grew up and lives?

Born in San Diego, raised in Allied Gardens, a phenom at Patrick Henry High, a star at SDSU, Harang is as glued to San Diego as night and morning low clouds. During a 12-year professional baseball career, Harang always returned to San Diego in the offseason. The Del Cerro home he bought in 2003 and still lives in is about a 3-wood from his old stamping grounds.

After the great years with the Cincinnati Reds, he was overused in a brief period in 2008 and was never the same. He was injured, but that never explained why he couldn’t quite get back on track.

“I feel like I’ve never been able to get back to the consistent, repetitive mechanics that I had,” [Harang] said. “The last couple of years have been, ‘Try this, try that. Move your arm angle out a little.’

“I’ve had a couple of my old coaches call me, asking, ‘What are you doing? You had so much success before doing the same thing. Now, all of a sudden, you’re turning your back on that?’

“I got away from my main thing, which is throwing my fastball (primarily) and throwing everything off that. I got to thinking I’m going to trick people and it just didn’t work.”

I’m hoping for a great showing from Harang. He was my favorite player on those terrible teams in the 200s, and I’d love to see these last few years as nothing more than a bump in the road for him.

Run support, bullpen support, defensive support, all are baseball measurables. But what role does happiness in your environment play in an athlete’s success? With Harang, we may be about to find out.

“He is extremely excited,” said Harang’s wife, Jennifer.

The couple have a 4-year-old daughter, Addison, and 8-week-old twins, Dustin and Kailey. Baby sitters will be no problem. Both set of grandparents live nearby.

“I’ve always talked about it with Jennifer,” Harang said. “You gotta jump at the chance to be able to stay at home.”

Read the whole article. If you’re a fan of Harang, it’s worth your while.

Josh Hamilton, once Cincinnati Reds reclamation project and now Texas Rangers AL MVP, has taken to the intertubes to tell his story of overcoming drug and alcohol addiction through faith.

The organization I Am Second hosts the video. According to the about page on the website:

I am Second is a movement meant to inspire people of all kinds to live for God and for others. Actors. Athletes. Musicians. Business leaders. Drug addicts. Your next-door neighbor. People like you. The authentic stories on iamsecond.com provide insight into dealing with typical struggles of everyday living.

If you go to see Hamilton’s story, make sure you have an extra half hour or so. It’s taken about 25 minutes to buffer the whole thing on my machine, maybe because of all the traffic they’re generating from advertising this thing on the radio, which is where I heard about it. As always, thank you, 99.5 WZPL!